2023 Short Film Programme

Our short film line-up for 2023.

Sold

Jennifer Li | 2023 | English | Action, Drama | 15 mins

A lone girl suddenly realizes she’s been trapped - surrounded in all directions, she fights and runs. There’s no time to think as she navigates this unfamiliar farm trying to find a way out - then she hears a familiar voice…




Puppet Story

Park Sehong | 2022 | Korean | Animation | 15 mins 

Lady Fairy, Woodcutter, and Monster's Story. These days, in the digital age, analog is gone. Handmade animation is gradually decreasing. Of course, it is an efficient and natural result. Nevertheless, there is still someone somewhere who produces analog animations. And this is their story.


Two Blokes Fighting

L.Cronly | 2022 | Comedy | 4 mins

When two hungover blokes fight over a bottle of water, the real battle begins.


The Spirit Hunters

Mikko Löppönen | 2022 | Finnish, Japanese | Action, Sci-Fi | 8 mins

An Interpol agent from Japan visits Finland to catch a small-time criminal but all hell breaks loose as a sword wielding demon from the spirit world tries to open a portal to another world. Now she has to team up with the criminal to save the world.


Sunny

Ramin Sohrab | 2022 | English | Action | 5 mins 

Patricia received the devastating news that Monique had been killed by a rival gang member. Devastated and filled with grief, Patricia vowed to seek revenge on the woman who had taken her true love away from her.


Ascendants

Leroy Kincaide | 2023 | English | Action, Sci-Fi | 14 mins

Two escaped detainees are forced into a fight for survival, after being tracked by a government agency looking to re-capture those people with superhuman abilities.


Innermost

Maing Caochong | 2022 | Animation, Fantasy | 15 mins 

The background of the stop-motion animation short film Innermost is set in the future featured by highly advanced technologies, but a collapsed society and civilisation system. The cyberpunk-style science fiction world coexists fantastically with the traditional oriental martial arts world. The story follows the emotional entanglement between a long-lost chivalrous couple and a person with regenerated organs starting from a fight for a mystic magic lyre. From the perspective of what regeneration technologies are capable of, the short film will arouse the audience to think of how the value of emotions can be magnified or dissolved.


The Wrong Guy

Alberto Scisco | 2023 | English | Action | 13 mins

The Wrong Guy (TWG) it's an Action Short film located in Italy about a bank robbery that goes the wrong way...because of a very, very WRONG GUY.

The robbery is organised by The Boss, an ex-killer that runs the gang who’s behind the heist. He's a central character of the story even if he's no longer the impulsive and aggressive guy of years past. He's now an underworld boss, cruel and calculated,  followed by PAUL, his right-hand man, and LUCY his girlfriend.


Z-43

Martin Reyes | 2022 | English | Action, Sci-Fi | 7 mins

A guy wakes up in a truck to discover he's an experiment with a target on his head.


四十九 - SEEK

Shane Kosugi, Kansuke Asano | 2023 | Japanese | Action, Thriller | 13 mins

K. Hanzo, an assassin for a covert non-governmental espionage group in Japan called "49" or "SEEK", is grieving over the loss of his girlfriend from a tragic car accident. His ex-boss, J, contacts him to do one last mission for him; kill his ex-partner who has kidnapped a young agent and stolen some vital information which he plans to sell to the Yakuza. Although the Ninjas are gone...the new breed of assassins live on; so the Ninja lives on.


Born To Fight

Kendall C Rodriguez | 2022 | English | Documentary | 20 mins

Ra-Leek, a boxer, wants to get to the number one spot. While his father, Ra-Tru, a single father juggles raising a champion and his youngest son.


Swollen

Daniel Aranha Pedersen | 2023 | Danish | Drama | 18 min

A female MMA fighter struggles to introduce her boyfriend into her brutal world.


Queenie

James Skinner | 2022 | English | Action, Sci-Fi | 7 mins

A solo rebel faces the deadly underworld to retrieve the contents of a mysterious case and discovers it's not just her life she's fighting for...but our future too.


Art of Crossing

Tobiasz Wałkiewicz | 2023 | Action, Comedy | 5 mins

Corporate employee and student follow the same path, but in opposite directions. A collision is inevitable. Passing by is the obvious solution to this problem. Only that despite their best efforts, they cannot do it. So they try harder.


Varadhan

Ramesh Menon | 2023 | Malayalam | Action, Drama |11 mins

In a lawless land, a fugitive thief must confront his own past when he witnesses an execution he was never meant to see.


My Son, The Fighter

Alex Moore | 2023 | English | Documentary | 5 mins

A mother searches for understanding in her son's desires and ambitions of becoming an MMA fighter.


Agentin Wu

Kai Jansen | 2023 | German | Action, Drama | 10 mins

Anna Müller learns about her biological brother through a certificate of inheritance. While trying to fight evil, her brother is imprisoned. The criminal gang, led by her uncle, also becomes aware of Anna and her gifts. But before it becomes dangerous for her, she receives support to save her biological brother and save the world from evil.


Killer Heels

Daryl Dyer | 2023 | English | Action | 5 mins

Killer Heels centres around ex-drag artist and assassin Chris; a working class mixed race office worker from South London who is tired of his mundane routine. A close friend persuades him to get back into drag which leads to his assassin past catching up with him.


Paruthlaak

Arjun | 2023 | English | Action | 4 mins

In "PARUTHLAAK," we present one of our most captivating works, akin to an eagle methodically encircling its target before striking. The narrative follows an assassin under relentless pursuit and assault from his long-standing arch-nemesis, drawing a parallel to the eagle's hunting technique. Despite the challenge of crafting this concept within a mere three-day preparation period, devoid of pre-visualization, the design was executed successfully. The shoot, accomplished over a single night, stands as a testament to our team's exceptional collaboration and dedication, resulting in an impressive outcome.


Dojo

Armin Alic | 2022 | English | Action, Drama | 15 mins

Shane Lucas, an ex-Yakuza member and 4th degree black belt in Judo, is hunted down at his local dojo in Los Angeles 1985 by his long-time rival, Elias Da Rosa and his crew members from the same crime family. Shane is threatened to come back to the Yakuza or would suffer the consequence of not.


Windows

Zac Sultzer | 2023 | English | Action, Thriller | 10 mins

A deaf woman is betrayed and must fight against those she saw as her family to survive.


Rogue Cop

Jonathan Cheong | 2023 | English, Mandarin | Action, Drama | 17 mins

Nathan Chan is an undercover cop tasked by Inspector Ling to be planted near 4K, an outlaw wanted by the police. A failed attempt to arrest 4K during a drug deal with the Vietnamese leaked the real identity of Chan. Already doubtful of the Police ability to arrest 4K, Chan took matters into his own hands when his wife, Xuan got kidnapped by 4K.


Death And Taxes

Eric Reyes Velarde | 2023 | English, Vietnamese | Action, Drama | 8 mins

For years, a Top Assassin has gone into hiding as an Accountant, to raise his daughter. All was well until one fateful day, his past catches up and finds him. 


Tori - Symphony Of Vengeance

Riccardo Berdini | 2022 | English | Action, Drama | 10 mins

A deaf woman seeks revenge for the murder of her brother by competing in an underground fighting ring.


Connecting

Teen Gohan | 2023 | Action, Sci-Fi | 13 mins

In a dystopian futuristic city, two lonely souls connect via a virtual online fighting game.


Prey

Alps Lifee | 2023 | Action, Thriller | 15 mins

A woman is forced to become a ruthless killer under the control of an unknown man through an earpiece. As she carries out her deadly mission, the man begins to play dangerous games with her, putting her life at risk and forcing her to fight back in a desperate struggle for survival.


Kin

James Waterhouse | 2023 | Action, Thriller | 8 mins

In a scorched lawless future, a mother with a baby attempts to steal supplies from a dangerous gang of survivors. She’s soon exposed and must fight her way out and escape to safety. 


My Two Left Feet

Damian Gonzalez | 2023 | Action, Romance | 8 mins

A dancer renting rehearsal space at a failing martial arts academy struggles to make a move on his crush, the caretaker of the dojo, until an outside threat forces them into a romantic duet.


Out of Competition Short Films

Spider-Chan

Cameron Sun | 2023 | Action, Comedy | 5 mins

What if your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was in a Jackie Chan kung fu film?


CHOPSTICKS!! (director’s cut)

Aeddan Sussex | 2018 | English, Mandarin | Action | 22 mins

Now hunted by the very gang she was once a part of, Shu struggles to find a way of restoring her father’s legacy, all whilst under constant attack from their new leader; her murderous brother Fang.


End Credits

Steven Santa Cruz | 2023 | English | Action, Dark |10 mins

A mysterious supernatural emissary watches over a Triad moll as she prepares to perform a gangland hit in the heart of London's Soho. Posthumously completed after the death during the Covid pandemic of director Steven Santa Cruz.


Cauliflower

Aurèlien Heilbronn | 2023 | English | Avant Garde | 5 mins

Drawing inspiration from the avant garde surrealist movement, Cauliflower ventures into the realm of the unconscious, unveiling hidden meanings beneath the fighter's ear using free association in a sensorial cinematic explosion.